Harry Potter and the New Outlook
by dukeofpoorplanning
Summary: Harry/Fem!Tom hi jinks. On hiatus until I'm struck with all of the inspirations.
1. Prologue 1

**Quick note before we get started here: the first chapter is ****_intentionally_ d****isjointed; it's purpose is to hint at things that will be explored in more detail over the course of the story. Oh, also, I don't own Harry Potter. Shocking, I know.**

* * *

Harry Potter's body was working on autopilot. Duck under that curse, spin to avoid that one, sidestep that binding spell, leap out of the way of that purple-ish flame spell and into-

_Oh dear,_ Harry thought miserably, crashing through the glass filled with time that they had passed earlier. _This will only end badly_.

* * *

"Where's Harry?!" Sirius demanded, throwing curses pell-mell into the battle.

"I don't know!" Hermione cried back, sending a neat stunner directly at Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been making her way over to the pair of them with a maniacal glint in her eye. Had Sirius been less focused on his missing godson, he would have figured out that Bellatrix was particularly keen on killing him to "purify" her family, him being the shameful traitor that he was.

"He fell through a giant time turner! We haven't seen him since!"

Sirius didn't quite know how to respond to that, given the fact that they were in the middle of a battle.

* * *

"A _year?!_" Sirius demanded, nearly apoplectic with rage.

"A year," Dumbledore confirmed gravely. After examining the time turner through which Harry had (hopefully) unintentionally leapt, he was quite certain of what had happened: Harry had been transported back in time (how far, he could only guess) and would be returned to where he belonged in a year's time. Luckily, he knew that Harry couldn't alter the past while he was in it, or else he already would have and events would have already started to change.

Unless, of course, their memories had already been altered in accordance with new events . . .

Dumbledore started rubbing his temples, trying in vain to stave off a headache. Sirius, who continued to rant at him, was _not_ helping.

* * *

"Unnngh," Harry grumbled, staggering to his feet uncertainly. It wasn't until he looked around him that he realised exactly where he was or how much trouble he was in: while he was still in the same room that he been in previously, it was now filled with people whom he could only assume were Unspeakables. That, however, wasn't the problem

The problem was the abject fascination with which they were regarding him.

"Err . . . Hi?"

* * *

"Everyone, we've a new student transferring today. He's a transfer from Beauxbatons, so please make him feel welcome. Everyone, let's give a warm welcome to Hadrian Everclear!"

Armando Dippet, it seemed, was actually a kindergarten teacher at heart. Perhaps that's why he had seemed so pliable in the memory Harry had seen in the diary.

"It's Harry," Harry grumbled, placing the sorting hat on his head with visible irritation.

* * *

"Everclear!" a voice called out from behind him.

"Hmm?" Harry asked, not bothering to turn around. He knew to whom that voice belonged, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Do you need someone to show you around the school?"

"I know where I'm going."

"How could you? You've only been here a-"

"I'm fine, thanks, Riddle."

_That complete bastard_.

_That utter bastard._

* * *

"Everclear."

"Riddle."

"I noticed you've been doing well in classes, lately."

"Only three."

"You've only been _excelling_ in three; you've been doing _well_ in all of them."

"If you're after what I think you are-"

"And just what would a Gryffindor think they know about what I'm thinking?"

"More than you might expect."

"Really?"

"Really."

* * *

"Everclear."

"Riddle."

"You've been avoiding me."

"It only seems that way because no one else can leave you alone. I haven't been paying you enough attention to avoid you." It was a lie, of course, but the first bit, at least, was perfectly true.

"One of these days, Everclear, I'll have you wrapped around my finger," Kathleen said confidently.

"I'll look forward to it, Riddle," Harry said taking care to sound as bored as possible.

* * *

Several months later, Harry swallowed his pride and approached the one person whom he had sworn to avoid at all costs; he had been having a problem lately, and she was the only one who could help.

"Riddle."

"Everclear."

"Can I have a word?"

"_You_ want a word with _me_? What about your upstanding Gryffindor nature? Are you certain you can be seen associating with a Slytherin like me?"

"You know that's never been the issue."

"Do I? And isn't it?"

"Considering that you've been using Legilimency on me-"

"Guilty."

"-I would guess that yes, you do and no, it isn't."

"Still, though, I _do_ like to watch you squirm."

There was a brief silence before Harry spoke up again.

"I'm still looking forward to it, Riddle."

"Oh? Looking forward to what?"

"Being wrapped around your finger."

He sounded a lot less disinterested this time.

* * *

"Kat? Kathleen? Where- Bollocks."

Harry knew precisely where he was and, more importantly, _when_.

He was back in his own time.

* * *

_You don't get to do that, Potter. You can't just waltz into my life, sweep me off my feet, then run off back home. I'll see you soon, and when I do . . . There'll be hell to pay._

A very angry and very worried Kathleen Riddle stormed outside the Hogwarts gates, silently thanking Dippet for the lackluster security. She had a will and a boyfriend who hadn't yet submitted to it.

That would soon change.

* * *

"Welcome back, Mr Potter," an anxious voice said.

"So I'm not 'attention-seeking liar' anymore?" Harry replied, frowning at the uncomfortable-looking Ministry employee.

"Well, no . . . _sir_?"

"Save it. I haven't forgotten last year; I won't be in any hurry to, either. I _do_ appreciate the sycophancy, though. Now, can I use your floo, or not?"

* * *

Dumbledore stood before his students, beaming at all of them: for the first time in a long time, he had a genuinely happy announcement to make.

"It is with great pleasure that I announce the return of one of our students! He has been missing this past year, but has finally returned, no worse for the wear. Please join me in welcoming back Harry-"

"_POTTER!_"

"Oh dear," Harry muttered. _This will only end badly._

* * *

**AN: Well, that's just about the most disjointed set-up chapter I've ever written, possibly even read. Yeah, it was fully intentional, but still. Anyways, for clarity's sake, I should probably point out that, while Tom Marvolo Riddle is a sociopath (inarguably so), Kathleen Mariah Riddle ****_isn't_****. She's controlling, manipulative, and possessive, but she isn't actually _evil_; she mostly just wants to set up alliances with all of the most usefully (or potentially useful) students in school so that she can more easily do whatever she wants as an adult (be it politics or teaching), hence the reason she was after Harry. This takes place in an AU where Harry, like Dumbledore and Voldemort, is a prodigy, so she figured he'd be useful to have around.**

**Also, to explain the time travel mechanic, Harry jumping through the time turner sent him back into an alternate dimension (obviously) where he spent a year. It happened to send him back _exactly_ 52 years (conveniently), so he wound up in June of 1944. I have a piece of head cannon that says that OWLs end on the first Friday of June (that was the seventh in '96 and the second in'44) while school ends on the Summer Solstice, so he spent two weeks in school before leaving for the summer (he lived in the Leaky Cauldron while he wasn't at school). Harry returned to his own time after a year (on 06-07-45) and Katheryn stormed over to the Ministry so that she could use whatever toys were hidden away in the Department of Mysteries to follow him and give the poor bastard a piece of her mind.**

**When Harry first arrived in the past, the Unspeakables gave him some money and a fake identity in exchange for information about time travel and the future in general, which he considered a fair deal. Dumbledore knew from the start that he'd be back in a year and told a few people high-up in the Ministry about it, and the Unspeakables were able to work out the same thing in the past, so they told Harry about it. Shame he eventually forgot about it, what with his mind being on other things and all. Cough cough attending to Kathleen's every whim cough.**

**I know that this is really short, but it's just a prologue/teaser/still-a-prologue, soooo . . . deal with it? Seriously, though, future chapters _will_ be longer. Lemme know what you think, since "Harry goes back in time and meets teenage Voldemort" stories are fairly common, while "Harry goes back in time to an alternate dimension where he meets the teenage version of someone who is very similar to Voldemort while still being different enough that she'll never grow into him" stories _aren't_. At least, not to my knowledge, I could totally be missing out on a huge portion of the fanbase. That said, I kinda doubt it.**

* * *

**PS: To be clear: Voldemort in this story is a man. Kathleen _is not_ a teenage Voldemort, she's a teenaged version of what Voldemort could have been had he not been a sociopath. Also if he were a girl, which is probably important, too.**


	2. Prologue 2

**I don't own Harry Potter. In point of fact, I don't own much of anything aside from my laptop and the water pouches I've made from the skin of that dragon I killed that one time, but I digress.**

* * *

Rarely had anyone seen Dumbledore so utterly, unmistakably happy: the man _radiated_ glee as he addressed his students. "It is with great pleasure that I announce the return of one of our students! He has been missing this past year, but has finally returned, no worse for the wear. Please join me in welcoming back Harry-"

"_POTTER!__"_

"Oh dear," Harry muttered, just before diving under the Gryffindor table, Ron and Hermione staring at him in confusion as he did.

At the exact moment that he had disappeared from sight, the doors of the Great Hall burst open, and in strode a _very_ angry girl dressed in a Hogwarts uniform with a Slytherin tie, though no one recognised her. She had aristocratic good-looks of a typical pureblood, but none of the identifying features of any of the more prominent families, leaving the occupants of the Hall to wonder who exactly she could be.

Everything about her radiated power and danger: her long black hair was whipping around her face even as she stood still, as though it were being blown about by a fierce wind, her eyes were narrowed dangerously, and her stance was aggressive, as though she was preparing for a fight.

"Where are you?" she called out, sounding much more controlled than she had a moment ago, though still angry. "Come out so that I can kill you!"

"Go kill Malfoy! I'm too pretty to die!" Harry called out, giving away his location. He immediately realised his mistake and made to correct it, crawling to the front of the table as quickly as he could, which was surprisingly fast.

The girl's face split into an evil smile and she stalked towards the Gryffindor table slowly. Dumbledore, knowing full well where Harry had been the past year, had a good guess as to who the girl was (or rather, what her relationship to Harry was, which he felt was good enough) and thus chose not to intervene, feeling that something this ridiculous would be good for the students' mood. The other teachers, meanwhile, saw that he wasn't doing anything and decided that they probably shouldn't, either, choosing to trust his judgement.

Harry quickly conjured a mirror and used it to watch her progress. When she was halfway down the table, he began to slowly and quietly crawl towards the other end of the table, hoping that she wouldn't notice when they passed each other. Knowing Harry as well as she did, however, she predicted this and shot a Reductor curse at the floor directly in front of him.

Harry started, knocking his head against the top of the table and causing several of the plates and goblets nearest him to clatter around and fall over. He rubbed his head sheepishly as he reluctantly climbed out from under the table, taking care to emerge on the side opposite the enraged girl. "Hello, Kat," he said, smiling awkwardly.

"'_Hello_?'" she asked, too incredulous to be made any angrier. "You just disappeared, _without a trace_, I track you down _through time_ and you say '_hello_?' Could there _be_ a more woefully inadequate-"

"I didn't _want_ to leave!" Harry protested. "If it'd been up to me-"

"You would have come back even _sooner_! Don't bother denying it; we both know you have a _massive_ hero complex." She gave her wand a casual wave and levitated the entire Gryffindor table so that there was nothing between them but two rows of benches. (The students siting closest to them had moved over, hoping to avoid be caught in any crossfire.)

Harry raised his wand, though his hand was somewhat shaky. "You can't curse me if you're holding up the table," he said boldly, despite knowing full well that his somewhat unsteady hand betrayed his nerves.

"And _you_ can curse _me_. Of course, there's no way you _will_, since it would make me drop the table . . ." as she was was talking, the girl began walking towards Harry, who backed up slowly to maintain the distance between them. Unfortunately for him, the Gryffindor table was on the far right of the Hall (from the main doors), meaning that his back hit the wall in a matter of seconds.

The girl's evil smile grew as she continued to advance on Harry, who's fear was visibly growing with every step she took. When she was level with him, it became apparent that she was actually a little taller than he was, which was impressive in and of itself: Harry had grown about six inches during the year he had been away, and was now only slightly shorter than Ron.

When they were only three steps apart, she stopped to stare at him, giving him a look that promised a painful death unless he did _exactly_ what she wanted.

"Never." She took a step forward. "Do." Another step. "_That_." With one final step, she finished closing the distance between them, and was now barely an inch from his face. "Again." She slammed her hands, palms-up, on the wall on either side of Harry's face, just above his shoulders, trapping him where he was.

Harry let out what he would later convince himself was only a small whimper as the girl stared him down, glaring at him in a way that left him in no doubt of exactly how much trouble he was in.

She let Harry stew in his own fear for a few moments before relaxing her posture and shifting her smile from predatory to contented. Harry visibly relaxed just as she leaned in to kiss him, now confident that his life was in no immediate danger. The collective gasp that the occupants of the Great Hall took was completely lost on him, as he was too occupied responding to the kiss (admittedly belated though his reaction was).

The girl broke away and rested her forehead against Harry's. "Seriously, though," she whispered, "don't ever disappear on me like that again."

Harry nodded (or tried to, the fact that their foreheads were connected made it rather difficult), still a little surprised that he wasn't dead. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless.

"I won't," he whispered back. "Promise."

* * *

**AN: Consider this part two of the prologue: still wicked short (even shorter, actually), but still mostly here for set-up. Favoured Nations? Whatever. Anyways, the next update won't be nearly as prompt, since I'm still working on ironing out the plot details, but it'll hopefully be up next week. The next chapter will be the first _proper_ chapter of the story, so look forward to it, I guess. Speaking of, I'm honestly shocked at the response this story's gotten this far: to quote myself verbatim: "pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless." (No, that wasn't why I included that line, but it was so perfect that I couldn't help myself.) In just a few short hours, this has become my second most-reviewed fic yet, and it's only beaten by something that's been up for _months_ (and by only ten reviews, at that). I wasn't expecting much interest in this story, since most people don't tend to be like Harry/OC fics (or fics that feature OC's in general, but I digress), but no. People seem legitimately invested in it, which, as I say, is both flattering and surprising.**

**Moving on, I got a review pointing out the potential for drama that this has, since Harry would constantly have to make sure that Kathleen isn't pushed too far lest she go the Bellatrix route. I thought I'd reply to that in an AN, since it's the sort of thing that I can see a lot of people wondering about: Kat isn't in any _immediate_ danger of switching sides; Harry wouldn't've fallen for her if she was. While her methods are . . . _interesting_ . . . her goals are far from sinister. Yes, Harry's terrified of her in this chapter, but that has a lot more to do with _him_ than it does with _her_: if he'd had another girlfriend in the past who managed to follow him back to the present, he'd've reacted similarly. Also, she's generally intimidating (when she wants to be, since to always be terrifying people would put them on-guard, which would put her at a disadvantage), so it's kinda understandable. Admittedly, I did play it up some for comedy's sake, but that's something I tend to do a lot, so whatever. I'm rambling now, so I'll close things off here. As always, thanks for reading!**

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**PS: I just went through and edited this, since there were more than a few instances of awkward word choice originally. That's what happens when I rush, I guess, so lesson learned. From now on, I'll try to post one chapter every Wednesday, which hopefully means that I'll have more time to edit and give each chapter the attention it deserves. I'm still trying to work out the issue of plotting (I don't really like the whole "Horcrux" thing, since it basically turns the story into a checklist of stuff that needs to be destroyed before the protagonists can go after Voldemort, but I also don't want to have Harry and Kat just say "peace out, we're taking the fight to Voldemort" and have that be that, so I'm weighing my options. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to drop a PM or a review.**

**Once again, thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I don't own Harry Potter and am also looking for someone to do a companion series detailing the events of the year that Harry spent in the past so shoot me a PM if you're interested and I still don't own Harry Potter. Also, punctuation is _hard_. I don't _wanna_ use correct punctuation. That, and _I was gonna go to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!_**

* * *

It took all of three seconds for the Great Hall to devolve into chaos, rather ruining the quiet moment Harry and Kathleen had been enjoying. Students were calling out questions (and shouting over each other to make themselves heard, resulting in the questions getting progressively louder) ranging from "who's that?" to "where's Potter been the past year that resulted in him having a girlfriend?" (though it was usually voiced less politely than that) while the teachers tried, and largely failed, to regain order.

Harry's eyes scanned the crowds to land on Ron and Hermione, who were shooting him confused looks, although the latter's had some definite irritation in it (Harry couldn't imagine why). Before finding either of his friends, he noted that several girls around the Hall looked absolutely crushed, which Harry figured could only be a bad thing for them: any perceived threat (no matter how small) would likely not be treated kindly by Kathleen.

Poor sods had no idea what was in store for them.

"Silence!" Dumbledore shouted, shooting several fireworks out of his wand. He waited a few seconds for the students to settle down before beginning again. "If everyone could please be seated?" Harry and Kathleen made their way back to the Gryffindor table and took seats across from Ron and Hermione. The three Gryffindors held a silent conversation while Kathleen watched on in mild interest and Dumbledore continued his speech.

"As I was saying, and as you have no doubt noticed," even from across the room, Harry could see the slight twinkling in Dumbledore's eyes at this, "Mr Potter has returned from his year-long absence. I hope that you all welcome him back with open arms and ask that you all respect his privacy by not prying into what exactly it is he was doing during this year.

"Well, I think that's enough chatter for one night. Tuck in!" Dumbledore retook his seat and the plates in front of the students filled.

Harry was both flattered and a little alarmed to see that his return evidently warranted a feast, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Namely, two highly inquisitive friends.

Hermione was staring at him expectantly while Ron was giving Kat a look that Harry couldn't quite place: it seemed to straddle the line between several different emotions.

"Err," Harry began uncomfortably, "so this is Kathleen . . ."

Ron nodded as Hermione said, "hello." Both turned to look at Harry, who was fidgeting uncomfortably under their gazes.

"So . . . what have I missed?" he asked, hoping to distract their thoughts from Kat. Ron, in particular, likely wouldn't be overly pleased to find out who she was, given what had happened to Ginny during her first year. "What's Voldemort doing?"

Ron shuddered at the mention of the name and Hermione shot Harry a look that told him quite plainly that their conversation was far from over, though she was evidently willing to humor him. "Malfoy was on a mission to kill Dumbledore last year," she told him.

Harry gagged. "Seriously? _Malfoy?_ Why'd Voldemort-"

"Dumbledore reckons it was to punish Malfoy, err, Lucius Malfoy, I mean," Ron cut in. "Since he messed up at the Ministry last year and all."

"Yeah, what happened there? People seem to know he's back now."

"He and Dumbledore dueled in the atrium that night," Hermione answered immediately. "Fudge walked in along with half the Ministry right in the middle of it all."

"So he's not the Minister, anymore, then?" Harry asked hopefully. Surely he would have been replaced in the past year?

"Oh, yes, he '_resigned_' last summer. As if he had a choice," Hermione said, rather more derisively than Harry had expected.

"What has the Ministry said about Harry's disappearance?" Kat asked.

"I'm sorry, who are you, exactly?" Hermione asked rather than answering the question.

"Kathleen. Didn't Harry already say?"

"Kathleen _who_?"

Harry chuckled weakly at what sounded like the setup for a knock-knock joke, though Hermione studiously ignored him. This conversation had the potential to go very wrong, very fast, and Harry wasn't remotely comfortable with it.

"Just Kathleen," she answered smoothly. "I am mononymous."

"Mono-what?" Ron thankfully interupted.

"Mononymous," Hermione said irritably. "It means that she only has one name."

Ron frowned. "But people don't do that anymore. Haven't since-"

"We _know_ that," Hermione snapped before turning to Harry. "Who is she?" she demanded.

Harry looked from Kat to Hermione to Ron and back again, trying to think of the best way to handle the situation. He took a deep breath and gave a weak smile. "Well, you two know where I was this past year, right?" Both Ron and Hermione nodded, the latter a little impatiently. "Well, it wasn't exactly how I thought it would be: some stuff was different from how it should have been."

"What d'you mean?" Ron asked, confusion evident.

"Well," Harry said slowly, "where I was I . . . I met Riddle." Ron stiffened slightly while Hermione narrowed her eyes. "The Riddle _here_ was a sociopath, but the Riddle _there_ is normal. Well, kinda controlling, I guess. And a bit of a prodigy, and sort of rude, and pretty arrogant, and generally obnoxious, and doesn't really get the point of treacle tart, but basically a decent enough person. If you look hard enough, I suppose. Anyways," Harry hastened to add, seeing the look Hermione was giving him: one that told him that he was rambling and had best get to the point if he had any particular attachment to his ability to speak at all. He took a deep breath (he hadn't been expecting to go on like that), gave each of his friends one last nervous glance, and plowed on. "Andisalsoagirl," he finished in a rush.

"And is _what_?" Hermione asked, sounding appalled.

"And is also a girl?" Harry answered, his body tensed.

_Explosion in three, two, one._

"Harry Potter!"

"And we have liftoff," Harry muttered unenthusiastically.

* * *

"Well," Harry said uncomfortably as dinner was winding down, "That went about as well as could be expected. I'm not sure they really needed to storm out, but . . ."

"They'll come around eventually," Kat assured him. "If _you_ could figure it out, I'm sure they'll get there sooner or later."

"Thank you for your unconditional support and acceptance," Harry muttered, smiling slightly. "You're right, though, even if you _are_ being a prat about it," he conceded at normal volume. "I mean, thinking about it logically-"

"If I was born a girl in one universe and a boy in another, I could be completely different in every _other_ way, too. We've discussed this."

"At great length," Harry agreed. "It's just . . ." he trailed off, looking into the distance.

"Just that you're worried that they'll take as long as you did to come around."

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Hermione's alright about this stuff, she'll probably be fine with you in a few days, but Ron's even thicker than _I_ am. I don't want to have to wait all year for him to figure out that you're alright." He shook his head to clear it. "Anyways," he said, his voice stronger now, "I need to meet Dumbledore after dinner. You should probably come, too . . ."

"But you don't want to have the same conversation over again?"

"_Never_ again, if I can help it," Harry replied with a shrug. "Of course, that probably just means that it'll happen _more_. Anyways, we _do_ need to figure out what you're doing now."

"Do we?" Kathleen asked, eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "I thought it was rather obvious: I'm staying at the castle at attending classes."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You _do_ realise that that's dependent upon Dumbledore's agreement, right? You can't just unilaterally decide to transfer to Hogwarts."

"Most people couldn't," she agreed, standing as she did so and stretching casually. "Luckily for you, I'm not most people."

Harry stood as well and began to walk to Dumbledore's office, Kathleen falling into step next to him. He looked at her apprehensively as they walked. "I don't have to remind you that threatening Dumbledore is a bad idea, do I?"

"Just because you Gryffindors lack any subtlety, it doesn't mean we all do," she replied haughtily, turning her head away and sticking her nose into the air.

Harry snorted and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, gently moving her face back towards his own with his index finger. She gave a theatrical sigh before leaning down slightly to kiss him.

Harry gave a contented sigh when they separated a few moments later and set off again, Kat now leaning her head on top of Harry's.

"Are you humming 'We're Off to See The Wizard?'" she asked incredulously a few moments later.

"Nope," Harry lied before going right back to doing so.

"You're hopeless," Kat muttered, giving her wand a small flick. The floor instantly turned yellow, much to Harry's amusement.

"You're the one aiding and abetting me," he said smugly.

"Only because I know it'll drive Dumbledore absolutely mad," she countered.

"Not many people would find that something to aspire to," Harry observed. They were silent for a moment before Harry dropped his arm from around Kathleen's shoulder, stepped forward, and turned to face her, his expression serious. "Why'd you follow me back? You could've had a good life back . . . wherever we were. No war or anything . . . You could've been Minister in ten years, _maybe_ fifteen. Here though . . ."

Kathleen took a moment to consider before answering. "I'm not sure why I did it," she began slowly. "Part of it was a spur of the moment decision: I didn't know how long I would have to follow you if I wanted to. But I guess . . . Being the Minister, or even the Headmaster, doesn't appeal to me as much as it used to."

"Guess I've been a bad influence on you," Harry said, smirking slightly.

"It really is all your fault," she agreed conversationally. "If you weren't so brazenly Gryffindorish, your idiocy wouldn't have rubbed off on me."

Harry grinned as Kat walked up to him again. He wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his head against her's as they walked, silently rejoicing at her answer. "I'm just glad none of your Slytherin-ness has rubbed off on _me_."

"Of course it hasn't," Kathleen replied, rolling her eyes. "Not in the slightest."

* * *

**AN: Fluff! Relationship drama! (Albeit drama surrounding _platonic_ relationships.) More fluff! Don't worry, next chapter will have some plot, guys. Anyways, like I said, I'm lookin' for someone to do a companion series about Harry and Kat's sixth year. I have a rough idea of what it looked like, as well as a general idea of what was happening back in the original timeline, but I don't have any interest in writing either story, soooo . . . yeah. Anyways, I'm kinda (well, okay, _really_) surprised that this story seems to be as popular as it does: _tonnes_ of views, comments, follows, favourites, reviews, etc, for which I'm _incredibly_ grateful. Like, seriously, you guys. Super_-duper_ grateful. I'll be honest, I'm still not really sure where I should go with this story at the moment, but I'll hopefully make it interesting, regardless; I'd really feel like I was letting a lot of people down if I did anything different. (Of course, if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em, 'cause I haven't got a whole lot of experience with this sort of plotting.)**

**On another note, what happened during the year that Harry was away is (in very general terms) this: Dumbledore found the Peverell Ring in the Gaunt Shack (and didn't put it on like a dumbass), he and Snape got the fake locket from the lake without either of them drinking the potion, Malfoy finally got the Vanishing Cabinets to work, which resulted in a similar Death Eater raid to the one in canon: the difference is that Dumbledore wasn't disarmed and was able to defend himself from Snape. The Death Eaters fled, since Dumbledore's pretty strong and everything, and the Order hid the Malfoy family to protect them as per Dumbledore's offer from canon. So now we have Slughorn as the Potions professor while Snape, the Defense Professor, has run off, ne'er to return. Probably. The Death Eater attack was about two weeks before Harry got back, and the Vanishing Cabinet has since been destroyed, thus repairing the breach in security. Future chapters' ANs may include more information if it becomes relevant, but I doubt it'll happen anytime soon.**

**Anyways, thank you as always for reading! Until next Wednesday, folks!**

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**PS: In case you missed it, I did a minor revamp of the previous chapter, since it was pretty awkward in places. Hopefully it's better now, although I wouldn't swear to it on me mum's grave, or nuffin'. Part of that is that my mom's still alive, but whatever.**

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**PPS: Ooh, ooooh! Before I forget, I'm not overly fond of this cover image, so if anyone has any suggestions for a better picture, please let me know!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Harry Potter, nor did I create disco. That dubious honor purportedly goes to one Calvin Harris, although the fact that he also claims to "get all the girls" makes this somewhat suspect: I know for a fact that at least one girl I know personally has never so much as met him.**

* * *

"Enter," Dumbledore called upon hearing a somewhat tentative knock on his door. It was rather unlike Harry to seem so nervous upon entering his office, though he supposed that a general lack of information regarding the events of the past year might have explained it. Of course, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger angrily leaving the Great Hall during dinner might have contributed, as well.

Harry walked in followed, predictably, by the young woman who had crashed dinner earlier, whom Harry had called "cat," which Dumbledore assumed was a nickname. Dumbledore supposed that that was only natural, since she would have to acclimate to life in the present-day; she would obviously have to introduce herself to the current headmaster if she wanted to continue at Hogwarts.

Seeing her up close, she looked rather familiar, though that was, perhaps, to be expected: Dumbledore had been teaching for nearly a century; if she had attended Hogwarts during his earlier days, she would be clear enough in his mind to jog his memory, but vague enough to leave him scratching his head. It might even have been that she was the mother of a student who looked quite like her, Harry was living proof that children sometimes resembled their parents very closely, indeed.

"Good evening, Professor," Harry said as he walked in.

"Sir," the girl added with a nod.

Dumbledore indicated the seats in front of his desk with a smile. "Please sit. I assume that you wish to discuss your plans for the next year, Miss . . . ?"

The two teenagers exchanged a look before turning back to Dumbledore. "Riddle," the girl said uncomfortably while Harry fidgeted next to her.

And then it clicked.

She looked familiar because she was . . . whatever she was to Tom Riddle. Dumbledore had thought that Harry had simply traveled back in time, but that evidently wasn't the case. This would have to be handled delicately.

"I see," Dumbledore said slowly. He turned to face Harry, careful to keep his expression nothing but curious. "I was under the impression that you had traveled back in time, Harry. Perhaps you could explain?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair nervously, eliciting a glare from Riddle, which he either didn't notice or wasn't bothered by. "I'm not really sure what happened, sir. I thought that I had gone back fifty-two years, but when I got to Hogwarts . . ." he shrugged and trailed off.

"Yes?" Dumbledore prompted, injecting a bit of amusement into his tone that he certainly wasn't feeling.

"Well, she was a she," Harry said, indicating Riddle and speaking rather slowly. "But she's not like Voldemort!" he hastened to add. "And I know what you're going to say, sir: that she could just be tricking me into thinking that. I know how charming he was when he was in school, but that's not what's happening here. Believe me, I thought the exact same thing at first, but . . ." he trailed off again, running his hand through his hair once more.

Dumbledore fought the urge to reach for his wand as Riddle sighed and grabbed his wrist, using it to move his hand down to his lap. She gave it a quick pat, as if to confirm that it was where she wanted for it to be, and turned back to Dumbledore.

"But he got there in the end," she finished for him.

"'Got there,' Miss Riddle?" Dumbledore asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"'Got there' as in 'figured out that she wasn't really like Voldemort,'" Harry supplied.

_She's young,_ Dumbledore thought sadly, though he said nothing of the sort aloud. "I see," he said again, tilting his head slightly. "Can I assume that you wish to enroll at Hogwarts?" He certainly had his reservations about allowing her to do so, but the sooner he got her out of his office, the sooner he could speak to Harry alone.

"Yes, sir," she replied, her tone carefully polite. "Do you want for me to be sorted again, or should I just go to the house that I was in originally?"

Dumbledore paused for a moment, pretending to give the matter some though, before answering. "I think you ought to be re-sorted," he decided, nodding to himself as he spoke. "Yes, it seems only appropriate. After all," he added with his trademark eye twinkle, "it seems that you were never sorted here, at all."

He stood from his desk and went to retrieve the sorting hat. While he could have simply summoned it, he wanted to see if Harry and Riddle would take the opportunity to converse while he had his back turned to them, and, watching their reflections in the window, he was able to do just that. Surprisingly, they didn't, although they were exchanging what seemed to be a significant look. Perhaps he wasn't being as subtle in his suspicions as he had thought. Or perhaps they had simply walked into this conversation assuming the worst of him. If he was right in thinking what he did about Riddle, that seemed quite likely.

The hypocrisy of that thought never occurred to him.

Handing the sorting hat to Riddle, Dumbledore watched her and Harry's reactions closely. Interestingly enough, the former seemed more interested than the latter, who looked as though he already knew exactly what would happen. Unlike in Tom Riddle's sorting so many years ago, the hat took a few minutes to decide on her house before calling out "Ravenclaw!"

Harry's eyebrows shot up as Riddle's face turned unbearably smug. Dumbledore himself raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment as he took the hat from her and returned it to its proper place. He once again took the opportunity to watch the two's reactions as he did so, and once again, they were looking at each other, but not speaking. Dumbledore briefly entertained the possibility that they were using legilimency to communicate, but dismissed it at once. Harry had shown no aptitude for occlumency whatsoever; the idea that he would have progressed so far in its sister art in only a year was ludicrous.

"Nice tie," Harry said to Riddle, pointing at her now blue and white* stripped tie, which had previously been green and silver.

Riddle lifted part of the offending article of clothing up to eye level to examine it critically. "I didn't realise that these were charmed to change if our houses did," she commented, sounding rather impressed.

"Actually, I've never heard of anyone changing houses at all," Harry replied. "Is there even a precedent for that?"

"Of course," Riddle answered just as Dumbledore said, "oh, yes." The former raised her eyebrows incredulously while the latter forced a smile.

"It hasn't happened often," he continued, seemingly intent on answering for Riddle, "but there have been instances of one student needing to change houses for one reason or another. I believe that the ties that Madam Malkin sells, and likely all others designed for Hogwarts students, are charmed to reflect the wearer's house, and thus will change themselves if worn by another person or if the wearer changes houses for whatever reason.

"And, with that said, perhaps we should discuss your living arrangements over the summer? As I recall, your . . . counterpart, lived in an orphanage during school holidays. That doesn't seem the most appropriate choice, all things considered."

"She could stay with me, Professor," Harry supplied helpfully.

"I don't believe that that would be for the best, Harry. Unless, of course, you have an _ulterior _motive in your suggestion?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Harry blushed furiously as Riddle smirked and managed to say "that wasn't what I was suggesting, sir."

Riddle gave him a patronising pat on the head. "It's alright, Harry. We all know you haven't exactly got a way with words."

"Now you're ganging up on me," he muttered sullenly, eliciting a chuckle from Dumbledore and a genuine-seeming smile from Riddle.

"In any event," Dumbledore said, trying to get the conversation back on track, "perhaps you could stay at the Leaky Cauldron over the summer?"

"I don't have any money, though, Professor, and staying there for two whole months would be expensive," Riddle countered.

"I can lend you some," Harry supplied, before hastily adding, "with interest, of course. Think of it as me investing in you," upon seeing the annoyed look on Riddle's face.

On seeing her nod once, though rather tersely, Dumbledore smiled at the two of them. "Excellent. Now, if you could make your way to Ravenclaw Tower, Miss Riddle, I need to discuss some things with Mr Potter. You won't need a password," he added, seeing her questioning look. "The Ravenclaw common room requires one to answer a, well, a _riddle_, if you'll pardon the seeming pun, to enter it, as opposed to a password."

"I'll see you tomorrow before class," Harry said as Riddle stood up.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, Harry," Dumbledore cut in curiously.

"But it's Tuesday," Harry replied, sounding confused.

"It's still the seventh here," Riddle interrupted. "The seventh was a Thursday in '45, but I guess it's a Saturday in '97."

With that said, she turned to leave, right as Harry muttered, "oh, yeah," rather sheepishly.

Once the door had closed behind her, Dumbledore stood and walked to the cabinet which Harry knew contained his Pensieve. Placing it on the desk between them, Dumbledore spoke slowly and deliberately. "We have much to discuss, Harry."

Harry, seeing a very long conversation coming, decided to step in before it happened. "First, sir, I have a few things that I need to ask about. What happened at the Ministry? Why is Professor Slughorn here? Where's Snape? What happened to Malfoy? Where's Sirius? For that matter-"

"Please, Harry, allow me to answer those questions before you overwhelm me with any more," Dumbledore interrupted cheerfully. "Mr Malfoy is currently in hiding from Voldemort after failing in his assigned task of assassinating me. He managed to allow a number of Death Eaters into the school through a security breach that has since been fixed, who were assisted by Professor Snape. We, that is to say I and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, were able to drive them away before any harm could be done." Seeing that Harry was bursting with questions, Dumbledore plowed on.

"As for Sirius, in light of the Ministry's, shall we say, _mishandling_ of Voldemort's return, I was able to secure him a fair trial."

"You mean-" Harry began excitedly.

"Sirius is now a free man, Harry," Dumbledore confirmed, smiling widely at Harry's obvious exuberance at the news. "I believe he has offered to let you spend the summer with him, following your seventeenth birthday, of course."

Harry frowned at that. "Why my seventeenth birthday, sir?"

"Because that is when the wards protecting you at your Aunt's home will fall: the moment when you become a man, in the eyes of the wizarding world, at least."

"And at the Ministry last year, sir? What exactly happened after I left?"

"A number of Order members came to rescue you and your friends, though I imagine that they were rather surprised to find you already missing." Harry grinned sheepishly at that. "At any rate, the end result is that many Death Eaters were captured, Voldemort's return was made common knowledge, and nobody on our side was hurt in any serious way."

Harry nodded. "That's good. I was worried that they might have been hurt after I went missing. But now what? It's not as though Voldemort's given up, is it? Just because he can't hear the prophecy anymore-"

"Do you mean to tell me that you had it with you when you went back in time?" Dumbledore asked sharply.

Harry nodded slowly. "I smashed it when I knew I was safe, sir."

Dumbledore frowned. "Then I take it you know of its contents?" Seeing Harry nod, the old man's frown deepened. "I see. That isn't how I would have chosen for you to find out, Harry. Have you told anyone about it?"

"You mean have I told Kathleen?" Harry asked rhetorically. "I mentioned it to her, but I didn't tell her any specifics."

Dumbledore sighed and rose from his seat, walking slowly to the window. "It is late, Harry," he said, rather unnecessarily. "Perhaps the rest of this conversation can be had at another time? As I say, there is much that I must tell you."

"Of course, sir," Harry said, standing up. Just as he was about to turn around to leave, he stopped and addressed Dumbledore once more. "Professor, what should I tell people about where I've been? They'll definitely ask, and not saying anything will just make them more curious."

Dumbledore turned to face him, his hands clasped behind his back. "Why not say that you have been studying abroad in preparation for your NEWTs? This could also explain how you came to know Miss Riddle."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, sir. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Harry."

Now alone again, Dumbledore retook his seat and heaved a great sigh. It seemed as though it was going to be another long year.

* * *

_* I've sort of permanently changed Ravenclaw's colours to blue and white in any and all of my stories, rather than blue and bronze. I have two reasons for this: one, it contrasts it with Hufflepuff (yellow and black), and two, _bronze is a stupid colour_. Ehem. Excuse me, I seem to have some . . . unresolved issues with the colour bronze._

* * *

**AN: Holy balls, that's a lot of exposition. Regardless, I recently learned (as in just yesterday) that being stranded outside during a blizzard is both a terrifying and oddly awe-inspiring experience. It kinda leans more towards the former, though, and when I say "blizzard," I mean a ****_proper fucking blizzard_****, not just a bit more snow than I'm accustomed to seeing: 23 inches of snow and some seriously fucked-up wind speeds. I've also learned that meteorologists don't fuck around, and that when they say "heavy snowfall," they ****_really fucking mean it_****, so lesson learned, I guess.**

**When I promised that I would be back to my regular schedule this week, I wasn't accounting for my internet deciding that it hated me. Given that technology in general seems to hold me in incredibly low regard, I probably should have, but . . . eh. That, I was really procrastinating writing this chapter. But enough about my personal failings, which allegedly exist. Heh, as if.**

**Anyways, like I've said, I'm looking for the following: a new cover image, a companion series about the previous year, and suggestions for the plot of this story. The last of those is far and away the most important: I'm ****_this close_**** *has two fingers reasonably close together* to making this a humor series mainly about Harry and Kat trolling people in between finding Horcruxes. ****_This close_****. I'd open a poll to decide whether or not I go that route, but the fact that don't really know what I'd do otherwise renders that impractical, so here's what Imma do, instead: if I get a suggestion that I like better than my trolling idea in the next week, I'll run with it, if not, trolling it is. Hopefully that's a decent-enough compromise, I suppose.**

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**PS: I have no idea how I've managed to forget mentioning this so many times, but I'm currently looking for a beta, so PM me if you're interested and able.**


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